2 1.1 Material Arrival and Storage Photosensitive CYCLOTENE advanced electronic resins are shipped frozen in dry ice. If your shipment arrives with no dry ice and is warm, please contact your local Dow representative. Table 4. Equilibrium wt % Water in Photo-BCB at Various RH at 23 C CYCLOTENE Film Relative Humidity (%) resin Table 5. Recommended Storage Temperatures and Times Storage Need Temperature Shelf Life Long term Freezer (-15 C) months from date of manufacture Medium term Refrigerator (4 C) 1-2 months Short term Clean room (20 C) 5-10 days Figure 1. Weight loss from a 10µm film of CYCLOTENE resin by isothermal TGA under nitrogen at 350 C 30 C to -40 C, as we have found that it is the transition from -78 C to -15 C that tends to initiate crystallization. Allowing the material to warm to room temperature before placing in the freezer also helps avoid precipitation. 1.2 Storage As photosensitive CYCLOTENE resin ages, the spun-on, and the develop end point, will gradually increase. The lifetime is based on the criterion of less than 5% change in. Resins should be allowed to equilibrate to room temperature before use. Recommended storage conditions and times are shown in Table 5. Precipitation of a photo additive can sometimes occur with CYCLOTENE , and occasionally with CYCLOTENE The additive readily re-dissolves upon warming to room temperature. Should this occur, some gentle mixing of the contents is desirable to ensure a homogeneous solution. See our application note on bottle rolling procedures for more information. An alternative is to remove the product from the dry ice and store it at - 2. PROCESSING Several process options are available, and are shown in Figure 2. Process A uses a hot plate soft bake and includes a develop end point monitor with each lot. Process B uses a hot plate soft bake and a pre-develop bake to stabilize the develop end point. (See below for further description of these process options.) An oven soft bake is also possible. The process that you choose is dependent on tool capabilities and manufacturability requirements. Processing Procedures for CYCLOTENE 4000 Series Photo-BCB Resins (Puddle Develop Process) 2

4 CYCLOTENE Advanced Electronic Resins adhesion promoter application between multiple coatings of BCB if there is metal sandwiched between the two BCB layers. The recommended adhesion promoter is AP3000, which is an organosilane coupling agent in an organic solvent. It comes pre-mixed and does not require further mixing or dilution. We recommend the use of AP3000 for most surfaces, including silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, aluminum, copper, titanium and chromium. Adhesion promoter is applied by dispensing statically or dynamically to cover the surface of the wafer. The wafer is then spun dry at 3000 rpm for seconds. Though often not required, the adhesion to surfaces such as silicon nitride, silicon oxide, copper, and aluminum, can be enhanced by baking the adhesion promoter for 30 seconds at C, depending on surface, prior to BCB application. Please see our application note Processing Procedures for BCB Adhesion for more details on adhesion of BCB to various surfaces. NOTE: Vapor prime adhesion promoters developed for photoresists (e.g., HMDS) do not work with the CYCLOTENE family of resins. Step 3. BCB Coating 3.1 Equipment It is recommended that coaters be equipped with two dispense heads (CYCLOTENE resin and adhesion promoter), backside rinse and EBR capability, hot plates and bowl exhaust. 3.2 Coating Process Photo BCB films are spun onto the substrate directly after the adhesion promoter application and spin dry. The precise conditions used to deposit the resins (e.g. spin speed) will vary according to the final film desired and which formulation of resin is being used. Table 6 shows vs spin speed for CYCLOTENE , , and resins after soft bake (see section 4) and final after exposure, development, and cure. Most of the loss in film in the final, cured film occurs during the develop step. The loss in film during the cure step (other than removal of residual developer solvent) is less than 5%. The es in Table 6 were determined using an open spin bowl. If a covered or closed cup coater is used, the es will differ and will depend on spin time as well as spin speed. Figure 3 shows a comparison of film using open and closed bowl configurations. Thicknesses of the XUS photosensitive products are shown in Table 7. Final hard cured film is also a function of subsequent processing steps, including soft bake conditions, exposure dose and development as explained in those sections below. 3.3 Dispense Resin Dispense a puddle of resin of 1-5 ml (depending on topography, substrate size and resin viscosity) onto the center of the wafer. Either static or dynamic dispense ( rpm) can be used. Alternatively, a reverse radial dispense can be used, which has been found to improve the material usage efficiency. 3.4 Spread Increase the substrate speed to 500 rpm for about 5 10 seconds to spread the resin out from the center of the substrate. 3.5 Spin Increase the substrate speed to a rate that will achieve the desired pre-exposure (see Tables 6, 7). Backside rinse during spin of CYCLOTENE resin during the spin process will help suppress polymer filament ( cotton candy ) formation. 4

5 Table 6. Typical CYCLOTENE 4000 Series advanced electronic resin es after soft bake, and final es after full photo processing and hard cure (not to be construed as product specification). Spin speed (rpm) After soft bake After soft bake Final After soft bake Final After soft bake Final Table 7. Thicknesses of XUS35078 photosensitive products after soft bake Spin speed (rpm) XU35078 type 2 XU35078 type film open bowl closed cover coater spin speed (rpm) Figure 3. Spin curves of CYCLOTENE resin in open and closed bowl configurations. Spin time was 30 seconds. 3.6 Edge bead removal and backside rinse Decrease the substrate speed to rpm and dispense the backside solvent (T1100 Rinse Solvent) for 5-10 seconds to remove any contamination from the back side of the substrate and remove the bead that has formed on the front side edge. Increase the speed and spin for 10 seconds to dry (do not exceed the original spin speed). Top side edge bead removal can also be used, either from a dispense head on a track or manually with a syringe. Processing Procedures for CYCLOTENE 4000 Series Photo-BCB Resins (Puddle Develop Process) 5

6 Step 4. Soft Bake After spin coating, the films should be heated for a short period of time to drive out residual solvent. The specific time and temperature are dependent on the composition of the substrate as well as the of the film. This can be done on a hot plate, in conjunction with a develop end point monitor (Step 4A) or in conjunction with a pre-develop bake (Step 4B). Either Step 4A or Step 4B is used and correspond to Process A and B in Figure 2, respectively. The soft bake is normally carried out immediately after spin coating. If rework is needed after coat and soft bake, the film can be stripped with T1100 Rinse Solvent. Either a puddle process on a track or immersion in a tank can be used. DS2100 developer can also be used to remove an unexposed film. Step 4A. Hot plate soft bake; develop end point monitor (Process A) The recommended hot plate bake temperature depends on the of the film after coat and bake. Recommended bake temperatures when using the end point monitor process are shown in Table 8. The end point monitor process is explained in more detail in Step 6. These are suggested guidelines; with the develop end point monitor process the soft bake temperature is not critical. The soft bake time and temperature will, however, have an effect on the subsequent processing. A higher soft bake temperature will lead to a longer develop time, a slight decrease in final film, and a slight decrease in the amount of scum left behind after develop. Step 4B. Hot plate soft bake, pre-develop bake process (Process B) The recommended hot plate bake temperatures when using a pre-develop bake process (Step 7) are shown in Table 9. Bake temperatures higher than those indicated in Table 9, when used in conjunction with a pre-develop bake, can lead to cracking of the film. Step 5. Exposure Note that CYCLOTENE resins are negative acting, i.e., the exposed regions are crosslinked and will remain behind after development. After the soft bake, the substrates should be cooled to room temperature before photolithography. The photo-bcb films should be given an exposure dose appropriate for the of the film. Typical exposure doses for photo-bcb films are given in Table 10. For example, a film of CYCLOTENE spun at 2500 rpm will have a after soft bake of 7.4µm, thus, the recommended dose will be 25 mj/cm 2 /µm x 7.4µm = 185 mj/cm 2. These doses were based on intensity measured at I-line and were determined on a proximity/contact aligner with broad-band exposure. Exposure dose and focus (gap setting for proximity printers, focal offset for steppers or projection printers) will have an effect on film quality, resolution, and side wall slope. If exposure tools with only I-line or only G-line radiation are used (e.g., steppers), a higher exposure dose will be needed. Narrow band I- line steppers give good results with thin films (<5μm), but the process window becomes smaller as the increases. On broad band steppers, G/H-line exposure is preferred, and I-line exposure is not recommended. Note that when the coating varies due to topography on the wafer, the exposure dose should be based on the of the thickest regions. Note also that these recommended doses were determined on silicon substrates. Re-optimization of the dose may be necessary based on substrate roughness and reflectivity (e.g., ceramic substrates, varying topology). Exposure can be performed essentially immediately after soft bake, as soon as the wafer has cooled to room temperature. The delay time between soft bake and exposure can be at least 24 hours with no adverse effects. Slight film drift, and CD loss, may be seen at longer delay times. When fabricating multilayer devices, BCB is deposited on top of BCB. In these cases, higher exposure doses are often needed for the second and subsequent BCB layers, because of absorption of light by the underlying BCB and loss of reflected light. Insufficient exposure can lead to wrinkling of the film during the develop step. Processing Procedures for CYCLOTENE 4000 Series Photo-BCB Resins (Puddle Develop Process) 6

7 Table 8. Hot plate soft bake temperatures for end point monitor process. All bakes are for 90 seconds. CYCLOTENE resin preexposure Hot plate bake temp ( C) < > Table 9. Hot plate soft bake temperatures for pre-develop bake process. All bakes are for 90 seconds. CYCLOTENE resin preexposure Hot plate bake temp ( C) < > Table 10. Exposure dose for CYCLOTENE 4000 series resins (broad band exposure, measured at I-line) CYCLOTENE resin Exposure Dose (mj / cm 2 per µm of pre-exposure film ) mj/cm 2 per µm mj/cm 2 per µm mj/cm 2 per µm Table 11. Hot plate pre-develop bake temperatures CYCLOTENE resin preexposure Pre-develop bake temp ( C) < > Step 6. End Point Monitor (Process A) If a pre-develop bake is not used, it is recommended that the end point time be established for each processing lot. The time can be determined by including a monitor substrate with the lot of substrates being processed. The monitor substrate is preferably a blank silicon wafer. This wafer is coated and baked identically to the other substrates, but should not be exposed. This wafer is developed as described in Step 8 below while looking for the time to endpoint. The end point clearing will show up as the end of a colored interference fringing pattern moving across the surface of the wafer. Without an end point monitor wafer (unexposed substrate), this effect is difficult or impossible to see on patterned and exposed substrates. Figure 4 shows the increase of the develop end point time as a function of the time delay between soft bake and develop, when a wafer has been left at room temperature. Step 7. Pre-Develop Bake (Process B) Before solvent development, a hot plate bake step can be added to stabilize the development end point time. Without this bake, the development end point time will increase as the film sits at room temperature, and is thus dependent on the time delay between process steps (see Figure 4). Pre-develop bake temperatures for different film es are shown in Table 11. Note that these temperatures are 10 C lower than the soft bakes shown in Table 9. The predevelop bake temperature should be approximately 30 seconds in duration. The predevelop bake must be carried out immediately before developing the wafer, otherwise the end point will again drift toward longer times. However, the process is reversible and another Processing Procedures for CYCLOTENE 4000 Series Photo-BCB Resins (Puddle Develop Process) 7

8 pre-develop bake will again reset the end point. In addition to the time delay, the actual end point will be a function of film, soft bake time and temperature, and developer temperature. For this reason a develop end point cannot be precisely defined here; each user will have to determine the end point at their facility on their tool set by developing at least one monitor substrate. A pre-develop bake will eliminate develop end point variation due to time delays. The user should realize that, in addition, the variables listed above need to be stable and controlled to achieve a uniform develop end point. Step 8. Develop Pattern development after exposure can be accomplished by puddle, immersion, or spray techniques. This processing guide is based on a puddle develop process. Please refer to Processing Procedures for CYCLOTENE 4000 Series Photosensitive Resins (Immersion Develop) for immersion development processing guidelines. Puddle development uses DS2100 developer; immersion development uses DS3000 developer. These developers cannot be interchanged. Develop can follow immediately after exposure; no wait time is needed. The delay time between exposure and develop can be at least 48 hours with no adverse effects. Some slight drift, and CD loss, may be seen at longer delay times. Figure 4. Increase in develop end point time as a function of delay time between soft bake and develop (CYCLOTENE , 7.4µm soft bake, no pre-develop bake). 8.2 Develop The wafer is allowed to sit with developer on it for a pre-determined length of time to allow dissolution of the unexposed areas. If an end point monitor (Step 6) is included with the lot, this is used to determine the develop time. The total develop time should be about 130% of the end point (i.e., overdevelop by 30%) if end point monitors are used. When using the predevelop bake (Process B) the develop time should be 150% of the develop end point (50% over-develop) with CYCLOTENE and resins, and 175% of the develop end point (75% overdevelop) with CYCLOTENE resin. In all cases, the 10 second rinse (see below) is included in this total develop time. Thus, for example, if an end point monitor is used and the develop end point is 50 seconds, the total develop time will be 65 seconds (end point + 30%); the puddle time will be 55 seconds and the rinse will be 10 seconds. 8.3 Rinse When the puddle time is complete the wafer is rinsed by spinning at 500 rpm for 10 seconds while a stream or spray of DS2100 is dispensed onto the center of the wafer. (Note that the develop solvent and the rinse solvent are the same). This is a solvent develop process; water rinsing is not recommended. Following the rinse, the wafer is spun at rpm for 30 seconds to remove the developer solvent and dry the wafer. Higher spin speeds have been found to cause anomalies in the via side wall, so the spin speed during the dry step should not exceed 2500 rpm. 8.4 Rework Once the film is exposed, it is insoluble in most solvents. Exposed and developed films can be reworked by stripping in Primary Stripper A Dispense DS2100 developer solvent Place the exposed substrate onto the chuck of the spin coater or track coater and dispense a puddle of developer onto the surface. Slow rotation of the substrate (50 rpm) helps to spread the solvent front. Sufficient developer is applied to allow the puddle to completely cover the wafer (10-15 ml for a 6 wafer) Processing Procedures for CYCLOTENE 4000 Series Photo-BCB Resins (Puddle Develop Process) 8 develop end point (seconds) delay time (hours)

9 The wafer is immersed in the stripper bath for 30 minutes at room temperature or for 5 minutes at 80 C. This is followed by a rinse in IPA and a water rinse. The stripper absorbs atmospheric moisture at room temperature, which inactivates the bath and makes it corrosive to metals. Use at 80 C is recommended because the bath remains dry at this temperature. If the stripper is to be used at room temperature, it is recommended that only a freshly poured bath be used, and that the chemical not be re-used. See Rework Procedures for CYCLOTENE 3000 Series and 4000 Series Resins for more details. Step 9. Post-Develop Bake The wafer should be baked on a hot plate immediately after developing. This serves to further dry the film and to stabilize the via sidewall. The temperature is not critical but the timing is. If this bake is omitted or delayed by more than about 60 seconds, inconsistencies in the shape of the via sidewall may be observed. The post-develop bake is typically carried out at C for 60 seconds. Step 10. Cure After photolithographic processing is complete, the film is cured. A variety of equipment can be used for curing CYCLOTENE resins, such as a box oven, belt furnace, tube furnace, and hot plate. Except for early out-gassing of residual solvent, CYCLOTENE resins do not evolve volatiles during cure, and thus there are no constraints on the heating rate. The only requirement is that, since films of CYCLOTENE resin are susceptible to oxidation at elevated temperatures, the film must be under an inert atmosphere at high temperature (recommended: <100 ppm of O 2 at >150 C). Please refer to Cure and Oxidation Measurements for CYCLOTENE Advanced Electronic Resins. Thus, the maximum oven ramp rate depends on how rapidly the oven can be purged of oxygen. The extent of cure is a function of time and temperature, as shown in Figure 5. Two different cure profiles are commonly used: soft or partial cure (approximately 80% conversion) and hard or full cure (>95% conversion). Soft cure is used for lower BCB layers when multiple BCB layers are used in a structure; it provides improved adhesion between the polymer layers. Hard cure is used when one layer is used, or for the last layer in a multi-layer build. It gives the film maximum chemical resistance and stable mechanical and electrical properties. In a box oven, a temperature of 210 C for 40 minutes is used for soft cure, and a temperature of 250 C for 60 minutes is used for hard cure. Recommended cure profiles are shown in Table 12. The time delay between develop and cure can be up to 4 days with no adverse effects. Some slight change in via resolution may be seen with longer delays. The cure delay time does not affect film or adhesion. Step 11. Descum Following cure the film is descummed by brief exposure to a plasma. A descum is necessary to remove a thin film of polymer residue left behind in the develop process. This residue is typically less than 1000Å thick, hence, a descum process which removes Å of polymer is generally sufficient. Best results are obtained with a parallel plate reactive ion etcher. Isotropic downstream etchers can also be used. Barrel etchers give poor etch uniformity and are not recommended. Since there is silicon in the BCB polymer, etching cannot be done in pure O 2 ; some fluorine is needed in the etch gas mixture. A typical etch gas is 80:20 O 2 /CF 4 ; this provides a good balance of organic etching by O 2 and silicon etching by CF 4. SF 6 (90:10 O 2 /SF 6 ), or other fluorine sources such as NF 3, can be used instead of CF 4 with good results. Lower concentrations of CF 4 will reduce the silicon etch rate and can lead to an undesirable build-up of a thin layer of amorphous SiO 2 on the surface of the BCB film. This can result in BCB cracking, as well as poor adhesion of materials deposited onto the BCB film. An O 2 /CF 4 or O 2 /SF 6 plasma will cause corrosion of copper. If copper metal is exposed during the descum, a 30 second dip in 10% acetic acid is necessary immediately after the descum to prevent corrosion and discoloration of the copper surface. Processing Procedures for CYCLOTENE 4000 Series Photo-BCB Resins (Puddle Develop Process) 9

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